The fact that Interpol played in Montreal on a "school night" wasn't going to stop me from seeing them, and I'm sure glad I didn't. The show impressed me on many fronts.

The first was the venue itself: Le Metropolis, an old theatre (among other things) turned concert hall. With a capacity of 2300, it puts every concert hall in Ottawa to shame and the sound was great all night. There's a huge balcony on the second floor with about a half a dozen levels, each with a row of soft bar stools. The view was great up there too, but you'd probably have to arrive pretty early and stand in line outside to get one of those prime seats. The pit was the space under the opening for the balcony, and underneath the balcony the theatre went up a step every ten feet or so with a bar at the back. It didn't seem like there was a bad spot in the place for view or sound.

The first band to open for Interpol was Hail Social from Philadelphia, PA. You can go to their web site and download a few songs if you want to check em out. The way I hear it, Hail Social is in the same bass and drum heavy alt.rock subgenre as bands like Interpol and The Stills -- right up my alley. The lead singer really impressed me belting out lyrics, while the drummer and bass player had some unique parts as well.

Hail Social has a habit of releasing self-made EPs at concerts that are often referenced by color: "pink" and "blue", except I can't find a site with a discography or tracklists of these EPs. I picked up a wicked little three track EP of theirs at the concert that I guess I will dub "green" (the insert is green, but the CD is black). The first two tracks I don't know, but the third is Another Face. Apparently it's at least the fifth different self-made EP they've sold at their concerts. From the tracks I've downloaded from their website, it seems they have an eight track full-length album on the way. I can't believe this band is unsigned!

The second opening band was The Secret Machines, who I definitely wanted to see live. They had a few up-tempo songs but were mostly lower key than the other two bands. Their setup was unique: they had the drums on one side of the stage facing the keyboards on the other side with the lead guitarist in the middle. Seeing a drummer from the side really gives you an appreciation for the work he's doing, and the drummer for TSM rocked.

The songs themselves were quite different that the album versions, which is cool for a live show ... but I found that many songs sounded a bit jumbled. I don't know if that's the effect they were going for, or just the accoustics of the place. The lead guitarist relished being the the only standing member of the group and really wailed on his guitar when he didn't have to stand still enough to sing backup.

Interpol's perfomance was true to their CDs, which was definitely still good enough for me in this case. It was a completely different experience than listening to the "clean" CD versions -- the songs had more life, especially the drums which were heavier. I was curious why most of the crowd didn't move though most of the performance. Personally I can't help but from at least bobbing my head to Interpol.

All of the Interpol band members played in suits, with the exception of the drummer who was in a red t-shirt. It was a pretty interesting contrast though I'm not sure it was intentional ... practically speaking, drumming in a suit could just be too hot. :) They played a good number of songs from their debut album that the crowd was more familiar with, but most were from the recently released sophomore "Antics". After two encores it was all over until the next one.

I look forward to going back to Le Metropolis! Maybe next time I won't get so impossibly lost in Montreal on the way home. I just need a better map. :)

some related songs

Hail Social
   Track #1
   Way Out
   Get In the Car**
   Another Face

** wasn't sure of the name of this one -- it was track 2 on the green EP I bought at the concert, and it didn't have a tracklist. Here's some Google cache evidence (while it lasts) that a song by this name exists.

The Secret Machines
   Sad and Lonely
   The Road Leads Where It's Led
   The Leaves are Gone
   Nowhere Again

Interpol
   Narc
   Length of Love
   C'mere
   PDA
   Untitled
   Obstacle 1

bonus track to check out:

Hot Hot Heat - Touch You Touch You